Mendele: Yiddish literature and language ______________________________________________________ Contents of Vol. 6.140 December 15, 1996 1) Introduction (Esther Goffstein) 2) Rokhl Korn's a lid (Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan) 3) Max Weinreich's history of Yiddish (Joachim Neugroschel) 4) Jet-lag af yidish (Al Grand) 5) Gegartn (Louis Fridhandler) 6) Yidish un shpanish (Freydl Cielak) 1)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 23:52:15 -0500 From: esterel@aol.com Subject: Introduction Far mer vi tsvey monatn leyen ikh Mendele kemat yedn tog, un ikh hob hanoe, un klayb nakhes. Es iz tsayt tsu zikh bakenen mit aykh ale. Eyder ikh bin gekumen tsu Minnesota hob ikh gevoynt in Winnipeg--mayn geburt shtot. Mayne eltern hobn nor geredt Yidish, un afile ven ikh hob ongehoybn geyn in Englisher shul, un fleg redn tsu zey oyf English, hobn zey geentfert oyf Yidish. Ikh hob graduirt fun Peretz Shul, un ikh hob .zeyer gute zikhroynes. Ikh bin geven sekretar fun unzer Gezang grupe, un ikh gedenk alle lider. Lider fargest men nit. Ven ikh bin geven in derheym hob ikh geredt vi mayne eltern hobn geredt, mit a rusishn dialekt, un in shule hob ikh geredt vi der lerer--in vos m'hot gerufn "standard" yidish--loyt YIVO. Ikh ken aykh zogn az iber di yorn hot zikh der klal shprakh geendert. Ale shprakhn endern zikh, vi ir veyst. Yidish iz a dinamishe shprakh. Ikh hob gemakht a lidele tsu vayzn dem untersheyd tsvishn di dialektn: [der zelber nign vi "I say potatoes"]. Ikh zug mime un du zogst mume, Ikh zug frime un du zogst frume Mime, mume, frime, frume, Abi Yidish redn mir. Ikh bin zeyer tsefridn tsu zayn mit aykh ale Mendelyaners...Zayt gezunt. Eynike pleonasms: shver un biter, pust un pas, khas vekholile, un mayn favorit: a kharpe un a shande. Esther Goffstein 2)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 08:40:12 -0500 From: shirshan@aol.com Subject: Rokhl Korn's a lid Ikh zukh a lid, a libes lid, fun Rokhl Korn (my favorite Galitzianer writer!) vu der tog iz azoy oysergevenlekh prakhtful az zi leygt es arayn in a konvert un shikt es ir gelibtn. Un er, vi alemol, farshteyt nit, un fregt farvos zi hot im geshikt a leydikn konvert.... I seek a poem by Rachel Korn about a day (like Millay's 'O world, I cannot hold you close enough' ) so beautiful that she inserts it into an envelope and sends it to her beloved. He, as always, doesn't understand, and reprimands her for sending himn an empty envelope. Marjorie Schonhaut Hirshan Boynton Beach, Florida 3)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 09:56:28 -0500 (EST) From: achim1@cris.com Subject: Max Weinreich's history of Yiddish contrary to what barbara levin says about Max Weinreich's History of the Yiddish Language [6.139], I would strongly advise her to get it. YIVO is in the process of reissuing the entire 4-volume set in english. despite her qualms it's a fascinating book--certainly the most interesting and informative history of Yiddish. you may not find it necessary to read all four volumes, but I would strongly advise any serious yiddishist to read the first one and a half volumes. the last two volumes are mainly very extensive footnotes and bibliographical references. the first volume also contains a detailed survey of the various jewish languages that have evolved during the past 25 centuries, and that alone is worth the 30 dollar price tag. i've read the first two volumes in yiddish four times over the course of the past few decades, and I wish I had time to reread them. if you're just starting out in yiddish, you might as well read the translation (which walks a fine line between clunky and clumsy). I do hope that you can eventually reread the book in yiddish (with eight dictionaries at your side: weinreich, harkavy, a hebrew dictionary, two dictionaries of hebrew/aramaic borrowings in yiddish, a polish dictionary, a russian dictionary, and a dictionary of quotations from torah & talmud..... max weinreich's history is a masterpiece on the level of the nibelungenlied, mgm musicals (especially on the town & singin' in the rain), and the taj mahal. if you wish to get embroiled in an endless and perhaps futile controversy, read paul wexler's _The Ashkenazi Jews_ . It's the most imaginative (!!!) theory i've ever read (I'm not sure how valid it is, but it certainly explains why I have green eyes and chestnut hair. Joachim Neugroschel 4)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 12:30:31 -0500 From: savoyid@aol.com Subject: Jet-lag af yidish I'll make a stab at Khane-Feygl Turtletaub's inquiry [6.138] on how to say jet-lag in Yiddish. How about dzhet-ophalt? When you think about it, though, even the English expression "jet lag" is not a very precise description of what is taking place. There's not so much of a lag as there is sleep deprivation due to the crossing of time zones. So how about dzhet farshlofenesh? Or perhaps dzhet shleferikayt. Mayn zeyde-bobe un mayne eltern had very little occasion to speak about jet lag. Having spent most of their late 19th early 20th yorhundert journey in the ship's steerage section, they were no doubt afflicted with shif-nit-gutkayt or, as Weinreich has it, yam krenk rather than dzhet-ophalt. Al Grand 5)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 12:53:52 -0500 From: lfridhan@aol.com Subject: Gegartn In answer to Khane Faygle Turtletaub's query (6.139, 6) re: gegartn. It is the past participle of garn used as an adjective. Garn means to crave, to long for. In Sholem Aleichem's Dos Meserl we read: Keyn zakh af der velt hob ikh azoy nit gegart tsu hobn, vi tsu hobn a meserl, an eygn meserl. [Not a thing in this world did I so long to have as to have a pen-knife, my very own.] And so, gegartn eynem seems to mean: the longed for One. Louis Fridhandler 6)---------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 13 Dec 1996 14:00:52 -0600 From: arele@enter.net.mx Subject: Yidish un shpanish In regard to Joachim Neugroschel's query [6.138] about the shame that people living in Spanish-speaking countries don't contribute information on mutual impacts between Spanish and Yiddish.... Shame? A shame is not to know the Yiddish word and transform Spanish words into Yiddishisms. I understand linguists may be interested in studding the roots of a word but this doesn't particularly improve the Yiddish talking language. My aunt from the states, used to say: mir veln zikh trefn in korner... My aunt in Mexico said: mir veln zikh trefn in di eskine... korner...?, eskine...? in stead of "der rog"? Vikhtik, important is to use a language correctly, at least for me and I suppose, to many, many Mendelyaners, as well. Why shouldn't I say, oyf yidish, zay-gezunt, even if, as Joachim says, that af daytsh: "tschues" (funem shpanishn vort "adios")? Good-bye, is, and will be, prost un poshet: zay-gezunt (Weinreich Dictionary). Ellen Prince [6.138] was very right with her posting: it is very well for those of us interested in the linguistic aspects of Yiddish...yes, I agree, for the linguists it is important. Az Yidish zol vayter ekzistirn, darf men es banitzn vi a geredter shprakh. Zoln di linguistn zikh farnemen mit zeyer bekovediker arbet, un mir, di merhayt, lomir redn, shafn, oyslernen andere, leynen, un shtudirn undzer shprakh un undzere yidishe oytzres. Freydl Cielak Mexico City ______________________________________________________ End of Mendele Vol. 6.140